title: A patient registry for orthopedic surgery.
abstract: Identification of patient subpopulations for retrospective clinical studies, documentation of residents' clinical experience, and other administrative purposes can be difficult and time consuming. The problem of identification is exacerbated when a teaching program involves several hospitals or when the desired subpopulation is not adequately defined by standard diagnosis or procedure codes used by the institution. A useful patient registry system is reported here for the storage and retrieval of data on orthopedic patients treated by surgical residents at a major teaching hospital and its affiliates. The registry uses a simple, yet powerful encoding scheme to describe patient entries. In addition to a multidimensional encoded description based on SNOMED, the system supports the entry of free text to provide greater detail. This combination gives the patient registry both power and versatility.
authors.affiliation: School of Organization and Management, Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Brand
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Krag
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Hausman
authors.forename: K F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Trainor
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Akelman
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Rudicel
authors.forename: W O
authors.initials: WO
authors.lastname: Southwick
mesh_terms: D006751:Hospital Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D008499:Medical Records; D009985:Orthopedics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012042:Registries; D012985:Software Design